{"id":8259,"date":"2012-02-24T02:32:25","date_gmt":"2012-02-24T00:32:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/02\/golf-mahan-and-johnson-ease-into-third-round-of-match-play\/"},"modified":"2012-02-24T02:32:25","modified_gmt":"2012-02-24T00:32:25","slug":"golf-mahan-and-johnson-ease-into-third-round-of-match-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/golf-mahan-and-johnson-ease-into-third-round-of-match-play\/","title":{"rendered":"Golf-Mahan and Johnson ease into third round of Match Play"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

By Mark Lamport-Stokes<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

MARANA, Arizona<\/span> Feb 23 (Reuters) – American Hunter
\nMahan became the first player to reach the third round of the
\nWGC-Accenture Match Play Championship with a crushing 53
\nvictory over Yang Yong-eun on Thursday.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

In blazing desert sunshine, Mahan birdied six of the first
\neight holes to go four up on the South Korean and recovered from
\nbogeys at the ninth and 10th to seal the win on the 15th green.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“I was playing as well as I could, hitting fairways and
\ngreens, giving myself good looks,” Mahan told reporters after
\ncarding seven birdies and three bogeys.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“If you hit it good around here where these pins are and you
\nget on the right level, you are going to have some putts, you
\nare going to be able to make some putts. Today I was able to do
\nthat.”<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Soon after, Mahan’s U.S. Ryder Cup team mate Dustin Johnson
\nwrapped up a 75 demolition of Italy’s Francesco Molinari at
\nDove Mountain’s Ritz-Carlton Golf Club.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Johnson, who needed 20 holes to scrape past compatriot Jim
\nFuryk in the opening round, never let up after seizing control
\nagainst Molinari with four birdies in the first eight holes.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The match ended at the par-five 13th where the Italian
\nparred and the big-hitting Johnson was just 10 feet from the
\nhole in two shots.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

American Steve Stricker, champion in 2001 when the event was
\nheld in Australia, won a tight encounter with South African
\nLouis Oosthuizen one up after sinking a 20-foot birdie putt at
\nthe par-four 18th.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Three-times champion Tiger Woods, seeking his first PGA Tour
\nvictory in over two years, was all square with fellow American
\nNick Watney after seven holes.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

In other second-round matches, British world number three
\nLee Westwood was four up on Swede Robert Karlsson after eight
\nholes while second-ranked Northern Irishman Rory Mcllroy was one
\nup on Dane Sanders Hansen after four holes.\t<\/p>\n

(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes; Editing by Gene Cherry)<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\t\t\u00a9 Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mark Lamport-Stokes MARANA, Arizona Feb 23 (Reuters) – American Hunter Mahan became the first player to reach the third round of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship with a crushing 53 victory over Yang Yong-eun on Thursday. In blazing desert sunshine, Mahan birdied six of the first eight holes to go four up on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-8259","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8259\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}